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Peter James Italia was released from a 21-day quarantine Monday showing no signs of the deadly virus, according to the Vermont Health Department.

"We're happy to say that he is Ebola-free and that there are no cases of Ebola in Vermont," said Tracy Dolan, interim Vermont Health Commissioner.

She defended the government quarantine as an appropriate precaution.

"It's an extreme measure and one we only do occasionally when we feel like it's the best response to a situation," Dolan said.

Italia entered what the government said was a voluntary quarantine Oct. 27 after returning from a visit to West Africa, where the contagious disease has triggered death and fear.

He visited Sierra Leone and Guinea to investigate the Ebola outbreak but did not work with any medical organization such as Doctors Without Borders, according to Dolan. The fact that he was working solo increased the possibility that he might have exposed himself to the virus without taking proper precautions, she said.

Upon his return, state officials told Italia he would have to go into voluntary quarantine or face a forced quarantine.

"We did the best we could with the information we were given," Dolan said about the decision.

Italia did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday. Italia, who says he is a physician, is not currently licensed to practice medicine in Vermont. On his Facebook page, Italia says he is a time traveler who has foreseen various events including the 9/11 attacks.

Government quarantines of people with no observable symptoms have been hotly debated, with some saying the government is violating civil rights without cause and others defending them as a "safe rather than sorry" approach.

In one of the latest national developments Monday, a surgeon who had tested negative for Ebola as recently as Nov. 7 died of the disease after being flown from Africa to the Nebraska Medical Center for emergency treatment that proved unsuccessful.

Dolan said she did not know the public cost of the Vermont quarantine, which involved housing Italia in a private residence and paying health professionals to visit him daily to take his temperature and look for symptoms of the virus.

He would likely have been quarantined in his own home but had no permanent address, according to Dolan.

"Most people would go into quarantine in their homes but in this case he didn't have a permanent residence as he was coming back."

On his Facebook page, Italia states that he is a time traveler with special powers. In one post he writes: "I knew details about the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart in the early morning on June 5, 2002, not because I'm a psychic but because I was THERE when it happened. You see, I'm what you would call a time traveler, so I saw everything that happened before, during and after her kidnapping."

Dolan said she was unsure where Italia would be living in the long-term but that he had a short-term plan for housing which she declined to disclose. She thanked Italia for being cooperative.

"We really appreciate that and feel like overall the quarantine went well and we were able to do our jobs and implement public health practices."

Contact Molly Walsh at 660-1874 or mwalsh@burlingtonfreepress.com Follow Molly on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mokawa